The rules block service providers from discriminating against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.

Some mission critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will however be kept out of the purview of net neutrality framework.

"The Telecom Commission (TC) today approved net neutrality as recommended by Trai expect some critical services will be kept out of its purview," said Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan.

TRAI had earlier backed principles of a free and open Internet by recommending restrictions on service providers from entering into agreements that lead to discriminatory treatment of content on the Internet.

Trai however had kept 'content delivery networks' out of the ambit of net neutrality and also allowed fast lanes for specialised services that DoT (Department of Telecommunications) must define, and permitted telecom operators to use traffic management practices to maintain the quality of service.

Telecom Commission has also approved the new telecom policy, namely the National Digital Communications Policy 2018 and will now be taken to the Union Cabinet for the final approval, Sundararajan said.

"Everybody in the meeting today said that digital infrastructure is even more important than physical infrastructure for India. CEO of Niti Ayog (Amitabh Kant) said that for districts, we must ensure digital infrastructure is provided at the earliest. Therefore, India must have ease of doing business and enabling policy environment," she said.

An official, who was part of the meeting, said that the Telecom Commission has also approved installation of around 12.5 lakh WiFi hotspot in all gram panchayats with viability gap funding of around Rs 6,000 crore by December 2018.